A Dream, A Destiny

The reason

Ash POV

"Let me get this straight." A conceited grin twisted on Calem's lips and I groaned mentally. It was always something with him wasn't it? Being friends with such a drama queen was annoying.

"You got detention for talking to Serena Yvonne in class and you're actually planning on going to detention?" Calem gave me a probing look. "What the hell, Ketchum?"

I shrugged as I leaned my back against the giant pillar by the school entrance. Calem was waiting for his ride and I had decided to come tell him that I'd be staying at school for detention. Unfortunately, he wanted to give me a hard time about it.

"What's wrong with going to detention?" I asked lazily, hanging my head and examining my sneakers closely.

Anything to avoid looking at Calem, who was probably falling about laughing at just the thought of me sitting in detention and having Mr Rowan shoot me dirty looks. Hell, I knew I wasn't looking forward to that, but if he laughed at me one more time...

Snorting, Calem said, "The fact that you never go to detention!"

"I'm on thin ice so I'm trying to play by the rules."

My excuse didn't fool Calem. "You were on thin ice last week and you still managed to bail on that detention you got in English." Calem shot me an assessing look that I pretended to ignore as I stepped out of the way from a gaggle of giggling girls walk past me. "What's really going on?"

I turned my head to look at Calem so fast I got a crick in my neck. Calem was the loudest, brashest, most indifferent guy I knew, but did I detect a hint of concern in his voice?

He was staring at the cars maneuvering in the parking lot so I couldn't make out the expression on his face. But if he really was concerned, maybe this was the right time to tell him about the aneurysm. I needed an ally, especially if Sere really was determined to never talk to me again. God, I hoped not, but just in case... Could I really trust Calem or was he going to be a dick about it?

Biting my lip nervously, I took a deep breath in my mouth inhaling oxygen down my lungs, my heart thumping erratically as I prepared to take this irreversible step forward. What's the worst that could happen? Maybe Calem wouldn't overreact. Right now, that's all I needed- support. I didn't even care about my list; asking Calem to help me with it was just pushing things.

The list was Sere and my thing and if she wasn't around to help me with it, I didn't want to think about it.

"Yo, Calem. Can I ask you something?" I asked slowly. Taking my time, not daring to look at him as I just stared at my Nike's instead as my mind screamed 'bad idea!'

"I'm not gonna let you wear my 150 note enzo jeans tomorrow," Calem replied immediately, shaking his head that made his black, long, thin hair sway through air and smirked at me. "I'm way skinnier than you. And you never wear a belt."

I seriously should have seen that one coming.

Snapping my mouth shut, I stared at Calem as he grinned at me.

Awesome to think I very nearly entrusted my secret with this moron, huh?

"And why the hell were you talking to Serena anyway?" Calem asked when he had sobered up. "I would imagine she hates you."

You have no idea.

I pasted an arrogant grin on my face. "I was trying to get her to be my date for one of my dad's weekend lunches," I lied, feeling like a jerk for even saying that but unable to think of anything else that would fly.

Calem was really enjoying this whole 'using Serena' situation, especially judging from the way he was pushing it down Misty's throat whenever she was around.